Man who torched Burning Man effigy sentenced to four years

Jun. 27, 2008

'Burner' Paul Addis / Handout photo

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The charred remains of the art structure known as The Man is shown at the Burning Man fire festival on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007, in Black Rock City, Nev. Paul Addis, 35, of San Francisco, was booked into the Pershing County jail on suspicion of arson and illegal possession of fireworks, according to the sheriff's department and later sentenced to up to four years in prison for the crime. / AP Photo/The Chronicle, Carlos Avila Gonzalez

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A San Francisco man arrested for prematurely torching the Burning Man effigy at the 22nd-annual celebration of the counterculture festival in the Black Rock Desert last year was sentenced this week to up to four years in prison and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution.

Paul Addis, a 35-year-old performance artist who set the 40-foot-tall wooden Burning Man alight on Aug. 28 -- four days earlier than planned -- pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of injury to property. He is eligible for parole after serving one year, a court clerk said.

He was taken into custody after the hearing in Pershing County Court in Lovelock, court officials said.

Following the early lighting, Burning Man organizers rebuilt the effigy, and he was ignited on the final day of the event.

Addis was arrested again in October in San Francisco on suspicion of trying to set fire to the historic Grace Cathedral.